The Titan Protocol
(not a film by Roland Emmerich)
So, first things first: it is possible. I saw it happen yesterday.
Second: I'm totally new to Titan bombing and Thargoid fighting, but I have 9 years of flying under my belt. The player I saw getting through yesterday was a newer player in an unengineered Krait. and in our group of three.
That said, I think this is made for experienced players with engineered ships. Like the raid-tier of Elite. So don't get frustrated if you need many tries. I don't think Titan runs are intended for newer players.
I won't give you an extensive guide here but just rough outlines and essentials, because others can do that better, just let nobody tell you it's not possible.
Ship
I am almost sure others can make more refined recommendations, but if I didn't have access to engineering I'd probably take a combat ship with lots of utility slots for this, stuff it full of armour and a good shield.
Set a comfortable keybind for the shutdown neutraliser. It will work for the TG one as well. Ship/Misc I think.
Collect materials for heatsink synthesis. It's relatively low tier. Best way to do this is finding High Grade Emissions and collect G5 material with a collector limpet, then trade at a material trader. If you don't know how to go about this, there's guides. It's not hard to do and can be done in a Sidewinder.
Approach
I think this was the hardest hurdle to tackle at first. For me at least. There's two lines of defence before reaching the Titan:
- Caustic field: you'll get CONSTANT caustic damage here, and there's caustic mines around which will hover towards you if you get close. Do not get close... Use a heatsink if you do.
When the caustic sink bar is full, your hull will be contaminated and you'll get constant damage. DO NOT LET THAT HAPPEN. pop a caustic sink as soon as the bar is almost full and flashes. ALL PIPS TO ENGINE AND BOOST towards the Titan. There's a twitchy target, but you want to reach a cloud with lightning in it.
- The Pulse: The Titan will make noise, then charge up a pulse that will kick you out again and mess up your ship. The charge-up takes a bit, the cloud becomes whitish. ALL PIPS ON SYS and press the keybind for the pulse neutraliser and HOLD IT DOWN as soon as the wave triggers. NOT BEFORE or your SYS power will run out.
Caustic damage will continue to come in at that point so never stop boosting. There can be more than one pulse, so be careful.
Once you see asteroids, that's where you want to go. You are relatively safe there. Caustic damage will stop. If at any point your hull is contaminated, you will most likely die if you don't have caustic sinks left. Heating up to around 150% via silent running can purge it though, I have been told.
EDIT: if you have a xeno limpet controller you can purge remaining caustic contamination with a limpet. Hold still, target nothing, fire limpet.
In the asteroid field you might want to synthesise heatsinks if you used any.
The Titan
Usually it's calm here on approach. If your heat stays below 20%, you will most likely not be detected, but that's hard to do with only heat sinks and without engineering. That's why I think having other players hitting the vents for you is best.
Layout: On the upper side there are bulges on the outside of the Titan. These are the vents. They open up periodically and close again. On the others side of the Titan there's its pineapple heart, the thermal core, the thing you NEED TO POKE at least once.
The Task: Once the vents open up, LOCK ON and shoot it with the nanite torpedo. It needs a lock-on, so wait a second until it does. One for each vent. BUT don't get greedy here. The more you hit, the longer the big thermal core will stay open, but you have to make it on the other side. You need 2, you want 3.
After that cycle to the underbelly of the Titan as quickly as possible. The thermal core rises up and glows. SHOOT THE DAMN PINEAPPLE WITH AX WEAPONS until it lowers into the ground again and it is done. Then boost straight up to avoid a magnetic field thingie attack. But that's a bonus at this point. You'll hopefully see a COMBAT BOND message coming up, telling you for how many credits you did damage. Last 100% confirmed number for contribution is bonds for 1.4 millions. Not entirely sure about this. Will update once I know more. That's your CG ticket.
While doing all of the above, try to cool your ship down with heatsinks as best you can. If you go to 20% or higher you will be shot at. A lot. Don't panic at this point. Stay on task or you'll definitely die before it's done.
Given that the above takes a little practice and you might be attacked by Thargoids in an unengineered, not cold ship, it might be best if a more eperienced player would hit the vents while you are already waiting on the lower side of the Titan and just wait for the heart vent to rise.
I think that's it. Please give more USEFUL advice if you have it! My aim is just to make this possible for newer players without engineering.
EDIT: To prevent common mistakes I've seen, mostly due to adrenaline rush or by not following protocol:
-----
Unopened thermal vent and the thermal core (aka pineapple)
EDIT: Terminology corrections. Added pictures. Updated last confirmed number for contribution.
(not a film by Roland Emmerich)
So, first things first: it is possible. I saw it happen yesterday.
Second: I'm totally new to Titan bombing and Thargoid fighting, but I have 9 years of flying under my belt. The player I saw getting through yesterday was a newer player in an unengineered Krait. and in our group of three.
That said, I think this is made for experienced players with engineered ships. Like the raid-tier of Elite. So don't get frustrated if you need many tries. I don't think Titan runs are intended for newer players.
I won't give you an extensive guide here but just rough outlines and essentials, because others can do that better, just let nobody tell you it's not possible.
Ship
I am almost sure others can make more refined recommendations, but if I didn't have access to engineering I'd probably take a combat ship with lots of utility slots for this, stuff it full of armour and a good shield.
- Take AX weapons or you won't be able to hurt the Titan, and the nanite torpedo pylon. You might have seen lasers around Thargoids, but that's a tool for venting heat and useless unengineered.
- Take caustic sinks, better two than one.
- Take the TG Pulse Neutraliser (and exactly that one, NOT the other one. It won't protect you!)
- Take as many heatsinks as you can carry.
- Recommendation from another post: if you have space take a xeno limpet controller. It's repair and caustic limpet controller in one. Do not use it during flight, but once you're at least safe at the asteroid field. See below. DON'T FORGET YOUR LIMPETS.
Set a comfortable keybind for the shutdown neutraliser. It will work for the TG one as well. Ship/Misc I think.
Collect materials for heatsink synthesis. It's relatively low tier. Best way to do this is finding High Grade Emissions and collect G5 material with a collector limpet, then trade at a material trader. If you don't know how to go about this, there's guides. It's not hard to do and can be done in a Sidewinder.
Approach
I think this was the hardest hurdle to tackle at first. For me at least. There's two lines of defence before reaching the Titan:
- Caustic field: you'll get CONSTANT caustic damage here, and there's caustic mines around which will hover towards you if you get close. Do not get close... Use a heatsink if you do.
When the caustic sink bar is full, your hull will be contaminated and you'll get constant damage. DO NOT LET THAT HAPPEN. pop a caustic sink as soon as the bar is almost full and flashes. ALL PIPS TO ENGINE AND BOOST towards the Titan. There's a twitchy target, but you want to reach a cloud with lightning in it.
- The Pulse: The Titan will make noise, then charge up a pulse that will kick you out again and mess up your ship. The charge-up takes a bit, the cloud becomes whitish. ALL PIPS ON SYS and press the keybind for the pulse neutraliser and HOLD IT DOWN as soon as the wave triggers. NOT BEFORE or your SYS power will run out.
Caustic damage will continue to come in at that point so never stop boosting. There can be more than one pulse, so be careful.
Once you see asteroids, that's where you want to go. You are relatively safe there. Caustic damage will stop. If at any point your hull is contaminated, you will most likely die if you don't have caustic sinks left. Heating up to around 150% via silent running can purge it though, I have been told.
EDIT: if you have a xeno limpet controller you can purge remaining caustic contamination with a limpet. Hold still, target nothing, fire limpet.
In the asteroid field you might want to synthesise heatsinks if you used any.
The Titan
Usually it's calm here on approach. If your heat stays below 20%, you will most likely not be detected, but that's hard to do with only heat sinks and without engineering. That's why I think having other players hitting the vents for you is best.
Layout: On the upper side there are bulges on the outside of the Titan. These are the vents. They open up periodically and close again. On the others side of the Titan there's its pineapple heart, the thermal core, the thing you NEED TO POKE at least once.
The Task: Once the vents open up, LOCK ON and shoot it with the nanite torpedo. It needs a lock-on, so wait a second until it does. One for each vent. BUT don't get greedy here. The more you hit, the longer the big thermal core will stay open, but you have to make it on the other side. You need 2, you want 3.
After that cycle to the underbelly of the Titan as quickly as possible. The thermal core rises up and glows. SHOOT THE DAMN PINEAPPLE WITH AX WEAPONS until it lowers into the ground again and it is done. Then boost straight up to avoid a magnetic field thingie attack. But that's a bonus at this point. You'll hopefully see a COMBAT BOND message coming up, telling you for how many credits you did damage. Last 100% confirmed number for contribution is bonds for 1.4 millions. Not entirely sure about this. Will update once I know more. That's your CG ticket.
While doing all of the above, try to cool your ship down with heatsinks as best you can. If you go to 20% or higher you will be shot at. A lot. Don't panic at this point. Stay on task or you'll definitely die before it's done.
Given that the above takes a little practice and you might be attacked by Thargoids in an unengineered, not cold ship, it might be best if a more eperienced player would hit the vents while you are already waiting on the lower side of the Titan and just wait for the heart vent to rise.
I think that's it. Please give more USEFUL advice if you have it! My aim is just to make this possible for newer players without engineering.
EDIT: To prevent common mistakes I've seen, mostly due to adrenaline rush or by not following protocol:
- are your hardpoints deployed?!
- right fire group activated?!
- Shoot the core with AX WEAPONS (not with the nanite torpedoes)
-----
Unopened thermal vent and the thermal core (aka pineapple)
EDIT: Terminology corrections. Added pictures. Updated last confirmed number for contribution.
Last edited:
I'm almost tempted to make a run using my DBX which can mount a class 3 enhanced AX MC & 2 x Nanite torpedo launchers and see if I can make it out alive. Will think about it, the DBX needs warpaint though instead of the yellow S&R 
